Good Day, this is the Commonwealth Report.
News for the public, not the powerful.
Can No Kings Turn Millions of Protesters Into Millions of Early Voters?
The No Kings coalition just announced its fourth national day of action, and this one isn’t a march. It’s a vote. On October 17, groups including Indivisible, the ACLU, MoveOn, the American Federation of Teachers and Black Voters Matter will hold thousands of events across the country, from block parties to rallies to walks to the polls, all to get people voting early. Indivisible’s Ezra Levin said, “We’re taking back power for the people,” through the constitutional right to organize and the constitutional right to vote. Organizers say the March No Kings was one of the largest single-day nonviolent actions in American history. Protest gets attention. Voting gets power. If the millions who marched show up early at the polls, no king and no billionaire can rig an election that big.
Oil Tops $100 a Barrel - Will it go to $150?
Brent crude crossed $100 a barrel today for the first time since July, after the US military struck Iranian oil tankers and Houthi forces hit Saudi oil facilities in four cities, injuring 73 people. The war Trump and Israel launched on February 28 is now in its sixth month. Oil sat around $70 when it all started. Goldman Sachs warns Brent could top $120 if shipping attacks intensify, and its analysts say “Markets are increasingly pricing a prolonged Mideast conflict.” A Brown University tracker says Americans have already paid an extra $100 billion for gasoline and diesel since the war began. Diesel hit a record $5.90 a gallon on Labor Day. Every truck, every tractor, every grocery delivery costs more. That’s Trump’s war of choice, and working families are paying the bill.
Will Six Justices Let Trump Use the Post Office to Decide Who Votes?
More than 250 current and former members of Congress filed a brief with the Supreme Court yesterday urging the justices to stop Trump’s executive order restricting mail-in voting. That’s every Senate Democrat, 199 House Democrats and 15 former Republicans. The March order and a follow-on Postal Service rule would let the government pile new requirements on mail ballots and build a national voter list. Federal Judge Indira Talwani blocked it Friday as unconstitutional, and the administration ran to the Supreme Court over the weekend to switch it back on. Jamie Raskin called it “a naked power grab by a historically unpopular President.” Mail voting starts in some states within days. The Constitution gives states and Congress the power over elections, not the president. If six justices hand Trump the mailbox, they hand him the midterms.
Did Trump Just Push Our Closest Ally Into Europe’s Arms?
The White House announced Tuesday night that the United States will ban Canadian dairy, most Canadian beer, wine and spirits, and Canadian motorcycles starting September 29. Trump also shut Canadian products out of big federal contracts. That came hours after Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on $20 billion of American goods took effect, answering the 50% tariffs Trump imposed last month when trade talks collapsed. Prime Minister Mark Carney isn’t backing down. He said Canada relied too much on one partner and vowed to speed up trade with Europe. “We have everything we need to pivot and prosper,” he said. Carney addresses the European Parliament next week, and Canadian officials are exploring ties with the EU that stop just short of membership. Trump keeps taunting Canada about becoming the 51st state. Instead he’s driving away our best friend, and American farmers, distillers and workers will eat the cost.
Mamdani Opens the Files That Show City Hall Knew Ground Zero Air Was Toxic
Three days before the 25th anniversary of September 11, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani released more than 170,000 pages of city records survivors have fought for across several administrations. Many sat in 68 boxes in a Department of Environmental Protection office, only found last year. The files, going back to the Giuliani years, show city leaders understood the danger from burning toxins at Ground Zero while telling residents and rescue workers the air was safe. One memo to a Giuliani deputy mayor warned the city could face tens of thousands of legal claims. “People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied,” Mamdani said. The city settled two lawsuits with 9/11 Health Watch and is spending $34 million on a public portal. Thousands have died of 9/11 illnesses. The truth was in a box the whole time.
Why Did an Anthropic Researcher Just Quit AI to Warn the World?
Jacob Coxon is 27 and trains frontier AI models, and yesterday he quit Anthropic and the whole AI industry. He told the Wall Street Journal he won’t take part in the race to build AI that improves itself, fearing it could spin out of human control. “By the end of next year things could be out of control already,” he said. Coxon left OpenAI for Anthropic this year because of its safety reputation, and he says even sincere safeguards can’t survive competition without coordinated restraint. He signed an open letter with more than a thousand researchers, including Anthropic’s own CEO, calling for a way to slow development. Meanwhile Trump’s Washington has no federal AI law at all. When the people building the machine head for the exits, the rest of us had better ask who’s steering.
And that’s the way it is, Today Wednesday, September 9, 2026. I’m Thom Hartmann.
